Thinking, about cycling. "Anybody whose mind is proud enough not to breed true secretly carries a bomb at the back of his brain; and so I suggest, just for the fun of the thing, taking that private bomb and carefully dropping it upon the model city of commonsense." (This blog began as an archive of DYNAMITE!, the newsletter of London Dynamo cycling club, which you can still access via "DYNAMITE! filed" in the list below on the left.)

SENFT IN THE CLOWNS
+++ Jester ‘Mo meets Tour joker +++
His ill-fitting square yellow helmet and “garden gate” Omega Alchemy were a source of great Dyna-mirth before he decided to bin them – so you can imagine GUY ‘THE ENGINE’ POWDRILL’s amazement when he met someone at the World Championships in Salzburg who has raised even more laughs than himself. After watching Paolo Bettini soar up the Gschaiderberg on his way to victory, the lanky property broker spotted none other than infamous Tour de France devil Didi Senft waving his trademark trident. It wasn’t long before Guy found himself shaking hands with the wacky 54-year-old German inventor while his girlfriend Clare captured Sunday’s historic meeting for posterity… http://tinyurl.com/s6rc6. As if that wasn’t enough, the couple got an even bigger thrill when they ended up sitting next to Chris Boardman on the plane home. It seems the BBC budget only stretches to a Ryanair flight for minor sports commentators! The stunned duo declined to talk to the British time trialling legend – and on Thursday Guy played it cool again when he saw Boardman’s ITV colleague Paul ‘Un-believable’ Sherwen wandering along Regent Street. The modest 1st cat was probably expecting both men to approach him first and ask for his autograph! In order to prevent DYNAMITE! turning into an excitable star-spotting column, we are now going to turn our attention to the rank-and-file members who did a sterling effort helping out at the final South East Road Race League event while Powdrill sunned himself in Mozart’s hometown. So come with us to the village hall in Bells Yew Green, Kent, for a totally unglamorous yet thoroughly rewarding time. Let’s turn off the celebrity radar…

FRANTS FOR ALL YOUR HELP
+++ Big thank-you to marshals at SERRL event +++
Talk about a Frant-ic search! Race support co-ordinator MARTIN ‘COMEBACK’ GARRATT thought he had mustered enough marshals for the Regional ‘A’ Lamberhurst/Frant event before the SERRL race organisers told him at the last minute that the club also needed to provide an assistant commissaire. Thankfully, DAVID ‘DORIAN’ STREULE stepped into the breach on the day, wearing an official-looking blazer and brandishing a stopwatch. What a relief! Social secretary PAUL ‘ALL BLUE’ HARKNETT also looked the part in his very own hi-visibility jacket which blinded youngster TOM ‘JUNIOR’ MACKAY. Lead car driver TOM ‘HUMBLE’ HEMMANT avoided his worst nightmare by staying on course while KIMBERLY ‘CANUCK’ KABATOFF looked after the post-race services with massages and enough delicious flapjacks to feed an army. Taking a break from his highly successful season, RICHARD ‘WIN ‘EM’ SIMMONDS provided race service assisted by TONY ‘CHUCKLES’ SMEDLEY on a somewhat intermittent radio which only crackled into life on the last lap. Better late than never! The Dyna-management would like to thank all of the above, along with DAVID ‘GOLIATH’ ANDREWS, CRAIG GRUBER, TOBY BLACKMAN, ALEX ‘BALFIE’ BALFOUR, WILL ‘SEE YA’ HAYTER, SIMON ‘NOEL’ EDMONDS, CHARLOTTE ‘SHEENA’ EASTON and ALEX ‘GAWP’ MURRAY for taking charge with such aplomb at Dynamo’s last support event of the season. The race organisers were so impressed with their efforts that the club has been invited to take part in a quiz night to raise money for some transponders. Tables for eight people cost £5 per head and the action takes place at Rolvenden village Hall at 7pm on October 14 – so call Kim on 01795 426 211 if you want to take part. Let’s show ’em Dynamo can be kings of the pub quiz!

IMPRESSIVE TURNER SPEED
+++ Sprint win for road race debutant +++
It wasn’t just the diligent Dyna-marshals who made a Frant-astic impression on Sunday. Kiwi competitor PAUL ‘MONTY’ DELAHUNTY nabbed 6th place by winning the bunch sprint… http://tinyurl.com/jydht …which mirrored ‘RADAR’ RUSS TURNER’s superb road race debut over at the dreaded Cutmill course on the same day. The Eelmore regular as the first of the main bunch to cross the line after leaping away from the pack on the tough uphill finish – a brave move which rewarded him with 8th place overall in the 3rd cat Surrey League race. Well done, sir! West Ken warrior CHRIS ‘CALAMITY’ CAMPBELL came 10th, giving Dynamo two riders in the points… http://tinyurl.com/g7qhd …and there could have been a third if climbing king ROB ‘THE SAINT’ JEFFROY hadn’t been one of many riders to incur a puncture on the rain-slicked course. The deflated Dynamate dropped out of the break before the gap reached the two-minute mark – and the remaining riders went on to bag the top seven spots. Damn and blast!

SHARRY UP
+++ Peta’s six days of climbing classic Tour mountains +++
Returning briefly to this week’s theme of minor-league star spotting, lucky old PETA ‘RUBS’ McSHARRY spent a day riding with ex-CSC super-domestique Marcelino Garcia during a charity ride that took her over the Col du Peyresourde, Col de Portet de Aspet, Col d’Aspin and Col du Tourmalet. The retired Spaniard branded the intrepid Dyna-masseuse and her fellow fundraisers “crazy” for spending six consecutive days in the mountains as part of the Guide Dogs Association’s Le Tour Challenge… http://tinyurl.com/oczg9 …and with 38,000m of climbing, he was probably right! But despite only completing a couple of 1.5-hour training rides plus a bit of commuting during the three months prior to the epic trek, Peta bounced out of bed each morning and found her legs loved going uphill. She added: “I guess it was easier than massaging for 7 hours a day.” We know which one we’d rather be doing!

TIME TO HEAD DOWN
+++ Tester’s daring descent +++
Finally, DARREN ‘ICE’ HINCKS has dropped us a line to let us know that he’s exposing the Dynamo brand at drag strips across the UK. The time trialler posted a time of 21:12 at the Andover Wheelers 10 on the 16th and completed the Port Talbot Wheelers 25 on Sunday in 53:59. Darren reveals: “The latter saw me reaching 45mph on one rather scary downhill section. Some of the more competent riders were getting to 55mph!” You need a master-class from demon descender PHIL ‘NO NONSENSE’ CAVELL, pal!

SHOP OFF
Like a thrilled member of Joe Public gawping at Claire Sweeney as she swans through the Bluewater shopping centre, DYNAMITE! has enjoyed witnessing Dynamo’s stars go about their everyday business this week. But please remember that we are only a jobbing snapper crouched at the end of the bakery aisle in Tesco’s, New Malden, and we would be nothing without you, our glamorous Cheryl Cole plonking a bap in her basket. So please keep Dyna-mailing your race reports, news, gossip, and further sightings of the elusive KEN ‘FAME HASN’T CHANGED ME’ BUIST to the address in the “from” field of this message – or simply hit your reply button. The deadline, as ever, is Wednesday afternoon for Friday’s edition. And now, as the shop manager asks us to leave, it only remains for us to remind you about…